‘Make in India’ to impose a 10% customs duty for Local phone manufacture

Vastavam web: ‘Make in India’ will get a push with the government’s latest move to impose a 10 per cent basic customs duty on mobile phones imported into the country.The duty differential earlier was about 11.5 per cent in favor of local manufacturing. But with GST subsuming SAD and countervailing duties, that benefit was taken away. The 10 per cent customs duty will help push local manufacturing once again,” Intex Chief Financial Officer and Director, Rajeev Jain told.

Many phone makers, who assemble their devices at facilities in the country, also import small quantities of phones from countries like China.”The (import) quantities, at least for us, is very small and therefore, the customs duty will not make much difference.For the end-customer, there is no impact as he/she pays 12 per cent GST for the handset,” Jain explained.Echoing a similar view, BMR Advisors Partner, Mahesh Jaising said till yesterday, companies importing handsets were of the view they would have benefited under GST, given the manufacturing duty differential scheme going away.

“Consequently, consumers were expecting (prices of) imported phones (typically the high end phones which are usually imported) to have come down. However, with the 10 per cent customs duty last night, the tax structure is again in favor of local manufacturing,” he added.Users are now getting talktime of about Rs 80 on a recharge of Rs 100, compared to about Rs 83 earlier.Similarly, costs for postpaid users will also go up to the extent of three percentage points, starting this month.So, for a monthly usage of Rs 1,000, users will have to pay Rs 1,180 instead of Rs 1,150 earlier.